Kody Brown and Janelle Brown’s first meeting since their fight before Christmas covers a lot of topics, including their children. In the September 24 episode of Sister Wives, Janelle, 54, is upset that Kody, 54, didn’t even call their daughter, Savanah, at Christmas and hasn’t spoken to her in 6 weeks.
This sparks a conversation about how Kody treats the other kids in the family. Janelle believes that Kody spends more time with his and Robyn Brown’s kids than the rest of the family. Kody brings up how he wishes Solomon and Ariella, his kids with Robyn, 44, had the “same value to the whole family.” Janelle tells him to his face that those kinds of “statements are dangerous” because he’s just assuming this without any evidence.
“I think she’s pointing her finger at, like, some kind of favoritism towards Solomon and Ariela, which is the same favoritism I always gave to any of the little kids, starting from Logan all the way through,” Kody admits in his confessional. “When they’re little, I give them a lot. When they’re adults, I still give them a lot, but I don’t feel like my obligation is the same to them.”
Kody uses the excuse of Janelle and Christine Brown kicking him out of their house as a reason for why he doesn’t spend as much time with the kids he shares with them. He says they have separated him “from the environment that I know my children in. I’m just struggling to survive all the heartbreak here while they sit here and play mean girls together.”
Another point of contention for Janelle is the tension between Kody and their sons, Gabe and Garrison. Kody’s feud with his sons sparked over COVID-19 rules and their belief that Kody prefers his family with Robyn over everyone else. Robyn addresses the feud in the September 24 episode.
“I know one of the issues between Janelle and Kody is this idea that Kody’s asking for an apology from the boys. I never asked for one. I never wanted one,” she says. “And I did not know that he was asking for one for me. And I’m not actually happy that he was doing that.”
After their talk, Janelle confesses that she’s not “really inclined” to stay in a relationship with Kody. “I don’t feel like I’m getting what I deserve from him,” she adds. “Listen, I’m pretty independent. I don’t need a lot from him. But when it comes down to where he all of a sudden doesn’t want to be a father to my kids because they disagree with him, that sort of changes the cost-benefit equation for me in this marriage.”
Kody stresses that he has “always wanted to be a father to my children. It was my sole goal in life.” But for him, it all boils down to being in a plural marriage and what that really means. “If you’re only concerned about how I am at your place, then you are a monogamist. So stop trying to act like I did something wrong for 20 years.” New episodes of Sister Wives air Sundays on TLC and Max.